“We were looking for a name for the group,” says Genesius Guild founder Don Wooten, “and I knew of a play called The Comedian, which was about St. Genesius, who was the patron saint of actors. So I called it Genesius Guild. But no such person ever lived. I just thought it was wonderful for actors to have an imaginary patron saint.”

After local productions of Altar Call in 2005 and Yard Sale in 2007, area playwright Melissa McBain's latest endeavor - opening April 30 at the Village of East Davenport's Village Theatre - is the solo presentation Going Back Naked. And if you think that's a strange title for a play, its author says she originally considered one that was even more unusual.

In addition to playwriting and performing, Melissa McBain also teaches in Augustana College's theatre department, and currently serves as coordinator and producer for the Quad City Playwrights' Festival, an annual evening of short plays by local writers, directed and acted by Augustana students. (This year's festival will take place at Augustana's Wallenberg Hall on Sunday, May 10.)

St. Ambrose University instructor Michael Kennedy, who has directed more than 75 collegiate theatre productions over the past 40 years, remembers the first - and, to his recollection, only - public complaint lodged against one of his shows, which appeared in the Diocese of Davenport's weekly newspaper The Catholic Messenger.

The Quad Cities' spring theatre season will be bookended by Shakespeare, with the March 6 opening of Much Ado About Nothing, and Sophocles, with the May 28 debut of Oedipus Rex. But just because these plays are, respectively, more than 400 and 2,400 years old, it probably isn't wise to enter them expecting the expected. This Sophocles, after all, is subtitled The Audacity of Oed, and this Shakespeare is being staged by the Prenzie Players, so in both works, you may as well expect anything to happen; considering our lineup also features titles by Stephen Sondheim, Neil Simon, Euripides, and Mel Brooks, I'm thinking you can say the same for the theatre season as a whole.

]]>mike@rcreader.com (Mike Schulz)Feature StoriesWed, 04 Mar 2009 01:43:43 +0000The State of the Art: Area Theatre in 2008http://www.rcreader.com/theatre/the-state-of-the-art/
http://www.rcreader.com/theatre/the-state-of-the-art/ There is officially too much theatre in the area.

Not for me, mind you. Just for this week's issue of the Reader. Although the print edition does feature the article "The Essentials 2008: A Dozen Names to Remember," which hopefully provides a rough idea of the extraordinary wealth of talent found on the local stage scene in 2008, there was still plenty more that needed be said (and plenty more photos that needed be shared).

]]>mike@rcreader.com (Mike Schulz)Feature StoriesWed, 17 Dec 2008 08:55:12 +0000The Essentials 2008: A Dozen Names to Rememberhttp://www.rcreader.com/theatre/the-essentials-2008-a-dozen/
http://www.rcreader.com/theatre/the-essentials-2008-a-dozen/ For the third year in a row, I've composed a list of 12 area-theatre participants who devoted their time, energy, and skills to numerous theatrical organizations and venues during the past year. And once again - happily and inspiringly - it hasn't been necessary to repeat names from one year to the next; local theatre, to the great good fortune of local audiences, never seems to run out of talent.
]]>mike@rcreader.com (Mike Schulz)Feature StoriesWed, 17 Dec 2008 08:42:25 +0000Summer’s Stock: May through August with the Area’s Seasonal Theatre Troupeshttp://www.rcreader.com/theatre/summers-stock-may-through-august/
http://www.rcreader.com/theatre/summers-stock-may-through-august/ More than a third of the area productions I attended this year - a whopping 35 of them - I saw in the 91-day span from May 17 to August 15. And more than half of those shows - 19 in all - were produced by a combined five theatre organizations: Rock Island's Genesius Guild, Eldridge's Countryside Community Theatre, the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre (CAST), Mt. Carroll's Timber Lake Playhouse, and Davenport's newly established Riverbend Theatre Collective. My experiences with this quintet formed a fascinating theatrical journey, one boasting plenty of highs, occasional lows, randomly bitchy Web-site comments ... .
]]>mike@rcreader.com (Mike Schulz)Feature StoriesTue, 16 Dec 2008 15:39:15 +0000Take Five(s): Ensembles, Pairings, Debuts, Technical Achievements, Shockers, and Accidentshttp://www.rcreader.com/theatre/take-fives-ensembles-pairings-debuts/
http://www.rcreader.com/theatre/take-fives-ensembles-pairings-debuts/Five Extraordinary Ensembles

An actor friend of mine says he always wants to be the worst performer in everything he's in, because if the rest of the cast is doing stronger work than he is, that means the show is in really, really good shape. With that in mind, any actor worth his or her salt would be thrilled to be the worst performer among these five ensembles.

]]>mike@rcreader.com (Mike Schulz)Feature StoriesTue, 16 Dec 2008 15:01:32 +0000Acting Class: A Dozen Memorable Performanceshttp://www.rcreader.com/theatre/acting-class-a-dozen-memorable/
http://www.rcreader.com/theatre/acting-class-a-dozen-memorable/ There was no lack of spectacular work done in area theatre this year, and the following list is hardly exhaustive. But if you were fortunate, you caught at least a few of these 12 performances in 2008; whether taking on a leading role, a supporting role, or (in one case here) the only role, these gifted artists commanded the stage. And, hopefully, your attention.